Mean girls are just a fact of life. But you would think a child would get a reprieve from merciless heckling at least until she was in pre-school. Not so for North West. (In case you have been living on Mars for the past year, that is the progeny of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.) The 7-month-old child's tormentor? Joan Rivers.The comedienne lobbed the cruelest insult at the infant that we've heard so far.

We are accustomed to Joan taking pot shots at Kim and the other elder Kardashians. They are such easy marks, after all. But she reached a whole new low when she went after a baby. A tiny, defenseless baby who had no choice in picking her parents or being born into the spotlight.

During a stand-up gig at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles, she quipped: "That baby is ugly ... I’ve never seen a 6-month-old so desperately in need of a waxing."

Pretty despicable, right? I can only imagine how incensed Kanye will be over this. Definitely the start of a new celebrity feud. Who talks about a child this way? That's one unspoken rule every adult should follow: don't poke fun at a little kid's looks. What this boils down to is a desperate ploy for attention. Joan certainly got a lot of press after her nasty little bit.

Sadly, this probably won't be the last time North West faces this kind of offensive remark. Her parents have all but guaranteed this. The way they behave is just too outrageous to ignore. If Kanye isn't boasting about his greatness and getting into skirmishes with people who allegedly criticized his women, then Kim and her family are peddling just about everything under the sun.

Not only that, there have already been reports that Kim has been grooming North -- by waxing those famously bushy eyebrows she inherited from her Armenian side. Though I don't believe it. I know that family is all about appearances, but I don't think Kim would do that. I just hope they help prepare North for all the attention as she gets older.